British Culture - User contributions [en]

Catechism

2013-06-23T14:01:25Z

Nan:

From Late Latin ''catēchismus'', ultimately from Greek ''katēkhizein''. Manual of religious instruction which tells the young what they should do and should not do in terms of morality, wins converts and testifies to the faith. The aim of catechism is to establish order in society. In other words, religion has an important social function.

Sources:

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/catechism?showCookiePolicy=true

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/99332/catechism

Catechism

2013-06-13T12:58:27Z

Nan: Created page with 'Catechism (from Late Latin catēchismus, ultimately from Greek katēkhizein) is a manual of religious instruction which tells the young what they should do and should not do in t…'

Catechism (from Late Latin catēchismus, ultimately from Greek katēkhizein) is a manual of religious instruction which tells the young what they should do and should not do in the perspective of morality, wins converts and testifies to the faith.

Sources:

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/catechism?showCookiePolicy=true

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/99332/catechism

Microcosm

2013-01-14T14:46:17Z

Nan:

Microcosm(from a Greek compound of μικρο- "Micro-", which means “small”, and the word κόσμος kósmos which means "order" as well as "world" or "ordered world.") is a Western philosophical term. Man was seen as a microcosm and the universe as a macrocosm. Man and the universe are constructed according to the same harmonic proportions. All of the characteristics of the world can be found on the human body and the characters of men can also be found from the earth: the stars in the sky not only influence every little world- people's lives, including birth, death, destiny and all daily sorts of incident, and his hobbies, interests, temperament, personality, but also even affect the country's rise and fall, dynastic chronology, the outcome of the war, economic prosperity and decline. That explains why many people in the Renaissance thought the planets could influence their lives. That man is the microcosm was, in the Renaissance, widely taken to mean that cosmic knowledge and influence might be achieved through contemplation of the powers and tendencies men find in their own imaginations. So were hierarchies and order very important in the Renaissance culture.

Sources:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3446801221/macrocosm-and-microcosm.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrocosm_and_microcosm

Microcosm

2013-01-14T14:45:42Z

Nan:

microcosm(from a Greek compound of μικρο- "Micro-", which means “small”, and the word κόσμος kósmos which means "order" as well as "world" or "ordered world.") is a Western philosophical term. Man was seen as a microcosm and the universe as a macrocosm. Man and the universe are constructed according to the same harmonic proportions. All of the characteristics of the world can be found on the human body and the characters of men can also be found from the earth: the stars in the sky not only influence every little world- people's lives, including birth, death, destiny and all daily sorts of incident, and his hobbies, interests, temperament, personality, but also even affect the country's rise and fall, dynastic chronology, the outcome of the war, economic prosperity and decline. That explains why many people in the Renaissance thought the planets could influence their lives. That man is the microcosm was, in the Renaissance, widely taken to mean that cosmic knowledge and influence might be achieved through contemplation of the powers and tendencies men find in their own imaginations. So were hierarchies and order very important in the Renaissance culture.

Sources:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3446801221/macrocosm-and-microcosm.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrocosm_and_microcosm

Microcosm

2013-01-14T14:42:00Z

Nan: Created page with 'microcosm(from a Greek compound of μικρο- "Micro-", which means “small”, and the word κόσμος kósmos which means "order" as well as "world" or "ordered world.") is…'

microcosm(from a Greek compound of μικρο- "Micro-", which means “small”, and the word κόσμος kósmos which means "order" as well as "world" or "ordered world.") is a Western philosophical term. Man was seen as a microcosm and the universe as a macrocosm. Man and the universe are constructed according to the same harmonic proportions. All of the characteristics of the world can be found on the human body and the characters of men can also be found from the earth: the stars in the sky not only influence every little world- people's lives, including birth, death, destiny and all daily sorts of incident, and his hobbies, interests, temperament, personality, but also even affect the country's rise and fall, dynastic chronology, the outcome of the war, economic prosperity and decline. That explains why many people in the Renaissance thought the planets could influence their lives. That man is the microcosm was, in the Renaissance, widely taken to mean that cosmic knowledge and influence might be achieved through contemplation of the powers and tendencies men find in their own imaginations. So were hierarchies and order very important in the Renaissance culture.

Sources
http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3446801221/macrocosm-and-microcosm.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrocosm_and_microcosm

Utopia

2012-12-20T10:49:18Z

Nan: Created page with 'A fruitful pleasant and witty work of the best state of a publicweal and of the new isle called Utopia: written in Latin by the right worthy and famous Sir Thomas More, Knight, a…'

A fruitful pleasant and witty work of the best state of a publicweal and of the new isle called Utopia: written in Latin by the right worthy and famous Sir Thomas More, Knight, and translated into English by Ralph Robynson, sometime Fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford.

The constitution of Utopia certainly contradicts the common sense('publica opinio') of More's age. Utopia tolerates many religions and subsidises priests, but there is no one state religion: the state's basis is essentially secular, and great value is attached to participation in public life, which is the right of every male citizen. Fully to lead the good life is to participate in Utopian politics. The Utopians' assumptions about public life were not, however, widely shared in sixteenth-century England. The concepts of 'politics' as an autonomous area of activity, and of political philosophy as distinct from moral philosophy, scarcely existed.

Sources:
Elizabeth M.Nugent ''The Thought & Culture of the English Renaissance An Anthology of Tudor Prose'' Cambridge at the University Press 1956

David Norbrook ''Poetry and Politics in the English Renaissance'' Oxford University Press

John Shakespeare

2012-12-14T10:55:30Z

Nan: Created page with 'John Shakespeare (c. 1531 – 7 September 1601) was the father of William Shakespeare. He was the son of Richard Shakespeare of Snitterfield, a farmer.[1] He moved to Stratford-u…'

John Shakespeare (c. 1531 – 7 September 1601) was the father of William Shakespeare. He was the son of Richard Shakespeare of Snitterfield, a farmer.[1] He moved to Stratford-upon-Avon and married Mary Arden, with whom he had eight children, five of whom survived into adulthood.[2] He was a well-to-do glover and whittawer (leather worker) by trade, a dealer in hides and wool, and was elected to several municipal offices, serving as an alderman and culminating in a term as bailiff, the chief magistrate of the town council, before he fell on hard times for reasons unknown to historians.[3] His fortunes later revived after the success of his son, and he was granted a coat of arms five years before his death, probably at the instigation and expense of his playwright son, entitling him to use the honorific "gentleman", conventionally designated by the title "Master" or its abbreviations "Mr." or "M." prefixed to his surname.[4]

John Shakespeare moved to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1551, where he became a successful businessman involved in several related occupations. From 1556 to 1592, several official records identify him as a well-to-do glovemaker, which was probably his primary trade, as tradition remembers him as following that trade even in his old age,[5] but the records of his real estate purchases and legal expenses indicate an income much higher than that of a small-town tradesman.[6] The administration of his father's estate in 1561 names him as a farmer, and he inherited and leased agricultural lands and is on record as selling timber and barley.[7] Court records also document him as a "brogger", an unlicensed—and therefore illegal—wool dealer.[8] In addition, he bought and leased out houses, and he was twice taken to court for violating the usury laws that prohibited charging interest higher than the legal limit of 10 percent.[9]

Approximation of the Shakespeare Coat of ArmsBy 1552 he was residing in a house on Henley Street, which is traditionally referred to as the birthplace of William (now called Shakespeare's Birthplace), and on 2 October 1556, he purchased the house to the east and joined the two together.[10] That same year he was elected borough ale taster, the first of several key municipal positions he was to hold in Stratford. In that position he was responsible for ensuring that weights and measures and prices were observed by innkeepers and publicans within the borough, and also by butchers, bakers and town traders. In 1558 he was appointed borough Constable — a position similar to an early police constable.

In 1559 John became an affeeror, an officer responsible for assessing fines for offenses carrying penalties not explicitly defined by existing statutes. This role led on to his becoming a burgess, then a chamberlain. He would have been known as a 'Goodman', a title that recognised his growing social status within Stratford. By 1564, John was an alderman, a member of the Common Hall of Stratford, and it was in this year William was born. In 1568 John was appointed High Bailiff, the present-day equivalent of mayor.

In 1569 John had applied for a coat of arms, which after a long period of dormancy was granted on 20 October 1596. Most historians believe that his son, William, re-opened the application following his literary and financial success in London.[11]

Sometime between 1556 and 1558 John Shakespeare married Mary Arden, the daughter of the wealthy Robert Arden of Wilmecote and owner of the sixty-acre farm called Asbies. The wedding would have most likely taken place in Mary Arden's parish church at Aston Cantlow, the burial place of Robert Arden, and, although there is no evidence of strong piety on either side of the family, it would have been a Catholic service, since Queen Mary I was the reigning monarch.

Sources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Shakespeare http://www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/shakespeareparents.html